Bonn's intentions to set limits to new arrivals of ethnic Germans
from Russia as citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany will
have to prepare for more difficult examinations in German for the
future.

At the meeting of the Russian Germans (the `Landsmannschaft')
in Stuttgart, Horst Waffenschmidt, (CDU), the representative of
the Federal Republic of Germany for the Russian Germans announced
in his speech on Saturday that knowledge of the German language
already mandated for repatriation will be examined much tougher
than before. "Aussiedler" speaking excellent German will have a
better chance of being permitted to come sooner to Germany. Waffenschmidt
also demanded from the "Aussiedler" already living here to make
more efforts to improve their knowledge of German.

Moreover, the CDU politician emphasized that new ethnic Germans
arriving in Germany must expect a cut in their pensions. Germany
has to economize to make ends meet, and therefore pension cannot
be granted at their old level.

However, the chairman of the Landsmannschaft, Alois Reiss, criticized
these new measures for the pension fund and explained that pensions
in Germany are based on a system of give and take. German Russian
immigrants have already paid for the pension of their parents by
the money they have earned so far, part of which goes into the pensions-funds.

The meeting in Stuttgart had the motto: "Together with us into
the future." It was attended by about 45,000 people. According to
German statistics 1.8 to 2.0 million ethnic Germans still live in
the states of the former Soviet Union, 1.5 million "Aussiedler"
have been repatriated in Germany.

Our appreciation is extended to Alice Morgenstern for translation of this article.

Reprinted with permission of dpa/Reuter, Stuttgart, Germany.

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